Santa Barbara County 2nd District Supervisor Gregg Hart took his leave from the governing body on which he’s served for the past few years, stepping into the halls of the state Legislature during the first week of December and making room for Laura Capps to take his seat on the dais.
She was sworn in on Dec. 6. It was peaceful, one could even say joyous.
Witnessing the over-the-top drama that took over the SLO County Board of Supervisors meeting on that same day, it’s hard to believe these governing bodies convened less than 100 miles from one another. Wedding venues came together to bash SLO County code enforcement for enforcing county code; election deniers came together to cry “fraud” at the top of their lungs; and outgoing 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton used up more than an hour of meeting time to list off all of the actions she finds “egregious” when it comes to Oceano Advisory Council politics.
The anger is real in SLO County.
Could these two counties, which are arguably so similar, be any more different when it comes to the way politics plays out?
As much of an issue as I have with county funding allocations and the lion’s share of resources heading into southern Santa Barbara County, I have to commend the Santa Barbara County supervisors for conducting themselves in such a professional, cordial manner. I mean, there are occasional outbursts from 1st District Supe Das Williams and small-scale bickering between the longstanding 3-2 split, but this county knows how to get its work done.
Elected officials south of the Santa Maria River seem to grasp the fact that constituents need good public policy decisions and seem to believe that the greater good outweighs petty ideology and politics—no matter how many times Andy Caldwell attempts to use his indoor voice to screech at the board over things that he’s often wrong about.
This is not the case in SLO County, where Caldwell’s partner in COLAB crime, Mike Brown, mutters at the board, upset about things like a $3,900 community project funds grant that was award to local National Public Radio affiliate KCBX, and traffic on Highway 101. Petty politics and ideology take up so much space at SLO County supervisors meetings that I often wonder when real governing takes place. These are your tax dollars at work.
You know where else tax dollars could be at work?
Buellton. That city could be rolling in tax revenue from businesses like In-N-Out and
AM/PM, but projects seem to get hung up on the details and its small town vibe during the planning process. AM/PM’s “too much good stuff” might not be art deco enough for Buellton while In-N-Out’s notorious traffic might be too much for the city.
Speakers during a Nov. 17 meeting were very concerned that bringing an In-N-Out to town could ruin Buellton’s “small town feel.” I’ve been to In-N-Outs in Atascadero and Arroyo Grande—and those places continue to be quite small.
Maybe In-N-Out is the gateway fast food chain, but I think Chic-fil-A is where the real problems begin. Ask Santa Barbara.
The Canary is definitely not a cow. Send comments to canary@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2022.
